THE MAN WHO...

…was America’s original health guru; he cured his own tuberculosis by adopting an extreme diet and exercise program that he named Physcultopathy— which he then vowed to share with the world.

…founded America’s first great health magazine, Physical Culture. Its mix of articles on diet, exercise, sex and alternative medical therapies—plus a few nude photos—sold forty million copies between the two world wars.

…opened a national chain of health-food restaurants when Teddy Roosevelt was president (and offered Roosevelt a plan to put the U.S. Army on a raw-food diet).

…started the New York Evening Graphic, a scandalous Roaring Twenties tabloid that launched the careers of Walter Winchell, Ed Sullivan, future New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and Confidential magazine founder Robert Harrison.

…declared war on the "medical monopoly" of the American Medical Association and its "barbaric" practices of vaccination and surgery.

...arranged with Physical Culture contributor Benito Mussolini to train forty Fascist cadets at his new state-of-the art wellness center in upstate New York.

…published the story quashing rumors that Democratic front-runner Franklin Roosevelt’s polio had left him physically unfit to run for president—then hired First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to edit a new magazine for mothers, titled Babies, Just Babies.

…ran for senator in Florida as a last-minute entrant, narrowly missing a run-off with the incumbent due to vote-counting shenanigans.

…founded Cosmotarianism, a religion that combined Christianity with diet and exercise tips.

…Left behind protégés who sparked the fitness revival of the 60s and 70s.

“Bernarr Macfadden laid the groundwork for America's current obsession with diet and exercise and our fascination with tabloid news, yet you've probably never heard of him. In this impressive biography...”

“The name Bernarr Macfadden may not ring bells... the improbable saga of this eccentric self-made guru shows that our mania for fad diets and get-fit-quick schemes has deep, and deeply weird, roots...”